Effect of unbalanced passes on performance of split-flow exchangers

Journal Article · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · Journal of Heat Transfer (Transactions of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2911305· OSTI ID:7016674

Vaidya, N Y; Subramanian, V

In conventional exchangers some tube passes are in a parallel flow and others in countercurrent flow with respect to the shell fluid. This leads to a reduction in the mean temperature difference compared to the ideal value, which is the logarithmic mean temperature difference. In ordering to bring these two temperature differences closer, unbalanced tube passes are employed in a multipass heat exchanger. When the shell fluid enters at the midpoint of the exchanger and splits equally on either side, the pressure drop is lowered to about 1/8 of the normal value. This is an advantage when process conditions have pressure drop constraints. For the split-flow exchanger, when the tube passes are unbalanced, the equation for thermal effectiveness is still not available. The aim in the present study is to determine the benefits in making the tube passes unbalanced for the split-flow exchanger having four tube passes.

• OSTI ID: 7016674
• Journal Information: Journal of Heat Transfer (Transactions of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Heat Transfer (Transactions of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States) Vol. 114:2; ISSN 0022-1481; ISSN JHTRA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420400* -- Engineering-- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
COUNTERFLOW SYSTEMS
HEAT EXCHANGERS
PERFORMANCE
PRESSURE DROP
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
TUBES